White House worried FBI boss Christopher Wray will quit if GOP memo is released

The White House is expected to give the green light Friday to the release of a classified GOP-penned memo alleging bias at the FBI — and is concerned that FBI director Christopher Wray may quit when it does.

President Trump has read and been briefed on the document, and the White House is considering whether there should be any redactions before granting Republicans the OK to release it, senior administration officials said.

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"I doubt there will be any redactions. It's in Congress' hands after that," one senior official told reporters on Air Force One.

Wray, Trump's hand-picked replacement for the fired James Comey, voiced his opposition to disseminating the four-page report with a sharply-worded statement from the FBI expressing "grave concerns" about its accuracy.

Wray has not directly threatened to resign, but he has made clear he is frustrated with the White House's stance on the memo, and there are concerns he could quit, CNN reported.

On Wednesday, the FBI issued a statement saying the document contains "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," the statement said.

The document reportedly contains allegations of anti-Trump bias in the FBI and abuses of surveillance warrants used to spy on members of the Trump campaign team.

Christopher Wray has directly threatened to resign, but he has made clear he is frustrated with the White House’s stance on the memo, according to CNN. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

The classified report has caused chaos on Capitol Hill, with Democrats calling for the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee removed over the memo.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, took "deliberately dishonest actions" by altering the document after presenting it to the White House.

House Republicans are trying to "sow conspiracy theories and attack the integrity and credibility of federal law enforcement as a means to protect President Trump and undermine the work of Special Counsel Mueller," Schumer wrote to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) also cautioned Nunes about releasing the memo, saying that it should first be shared with the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they're doing that," he said.

Trump, meanwhile, has told associates that he believes the memo could help discredit Mueller's investigation into his campaign's possible connections to Russian election interference.

He was overheard telling a GOP lawmaker at Tuesday's State of the Union address that he will "100%" release it.

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According to recent reports, Wray made similar threats to step down after being pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom Trump viewed as a Comey ally.

The FBI agents' union issued a statement backing Wray on Thursday, saying it appreciates him "standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats."

Democrats and Department of Justice officials say the GOP memo "cherry-picks" information from a much longer application to a "secret court" allowed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Pelosi says Nunes violated House rules by altering the memo after it was sent to the White House following a vote by the committee on Monday. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Those documents typically run 50 to 60 pages, officials said.

Dems have complained that the Nunes memo should not be released without a corresponding release of their own version, which they say debunks the GOP's faulty account.

Republican committee members blocked the Dem version from public release, but Ryan's office said Thursday night it should be released as well.

"The Speaker is in favor of greater transparency," his rep told NBC.

Nunes, who became the chairman of the intelligence committee in 2015, has repeatedly faced accusations of bias for his close ties to the White House.

He was a member of Trump's transition team and initially pushed back against calls for a House investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.